The Seattle Seahawks, Green Bay Packers, and Championship Game, Part Two, at the Same Place
By Jason Lisk
The Green Bay Packers will be trying to avoid ending their season at the same place it started. Back on opening night of the NFL season, Seattle pulled away from Green Bay, and the Packers never once tried to throw a pass in Richard Sherman’s direction.
So much has changed since then, but here we are again. Seattle appeared to be the same dominant team that had rolled Denver in the Super Bowl that night. The next week, they lost at San Diego, and lost 4 of their next 9 games after the Packers’ victory.
And now, since a November loss at Arrowhead, Seattle has looked every bit the part of No. 1 seed and the favorite to win the Super Bowl. The Packers, meanwhile, relaxed, and a loss at Buffalo is the only blemish since Halloween.
So what do we make of that earlier matchup? If history is any indication, you shouldn’t make too much of it. Green Bay-Seattle will be the 20th rematch in a conference title game between non-division foes since 1978, at the same site where they had met in the regular season. The team that won the first matchup went only 9-10 in the rematch (8-11 ATS).
The home team had covered the spread in the regular season matchup by 9.1 points on average; in the rematch, the visitor averaged covering by 2.2. points, an 11.3 point swing.
Here is the full list of non-division conference championship game rematches at the same location, since 1978.